College Football Nation: Silently special season for the Buckeyes

Out of sight, out of mind. While Alabama, Kansas State, Notre Dame and Oregon have been at the fulcrum of all the angst over the BCS, and rightfully so when at one time it truly looked like all would finish the regular season undefeated, Ohio State has been an afterthought, if that. But as the dust begins to clear on this season, the Buckeyes are one of the two still standing with perfect records.

While Alabama, Kansas State, Notre Dame and Oregon have been at the fulcrum of all the angst over the BCS, and rightfully so when at one time it truly looked like all would finish the regular season undefeated, Ohio State has been an afterthought, if that.

All the talk this refreshingly scandal-free season has centered on the wild race for those two precious spots in the BCS title game, which has taken wildly unexpected turns since the calendar hit November.

Just two weeks ago, Alabama and Oregon seemed like they were on a collision course toward one of the most intriguing championship matchups ever. Then Bama lost and last week Kansas State and Oregon were assuredly going to be the two chosen ones. Then the Wildcats and Ducks lost, leaving Notre Dame alone, with likely the SEC champion, either Alabama or Georgia, set to oppose the Irish.

In any other year, there would have been another team adding more angst and intrigue to the chaos.

In any other year, Ohio State would now be in position to play Notre Dame for the national championship.

The Buckeyes, who went on the road and beat a surging Wisconsin team in overtime last Saturday, are 11-0. Only their annual season-ending game - The Game - against archrival Michigan remains.

But this isn’t any other year. This is two years after Ohio State was exposed as a violation-ridden program, one that lost its way in its final years under coach Jim Tressel. Players received cash and tattoos in exchange for jerseys and other memorabilia, others were overpaid for summer jobs, and some were just given plain old cash by a booster.

When informed of what was happening, Tressel chose silence instead of disclosure.

They’re not mortal sins, but they’re serious NCAA violations, so last December Ohio State was hit with a one-year bowl ban and scholarship restrictions. The bowl ban is for this season. The bowl ban, right now, stands to keep the Buckeyes from playing for the national championship.

"We have a saying, ‘A team that refuses to be beat, won’t be beat,’ " Ohio State coach Urban Meyer said after the win over Wisconsin. "Somehow, someway."

It’s been a surprising and impressive season for Ohio State.

The Buckeyes deserve tremendous credit for staying motivated despite not having any of the usual goals to play for. There can be no Leaders Division title, no appearance in the Big Ten championship game, and there’s no shot at a national title.

And still, when trailing Purdue by eight points as the fourth quarter wound down, the Buckeyes drove 61 yards in less than a minute with their backup quarterback leading the way, scoring with three seconds left to get within two points, then making the two-point conversion to tie before winning in overtime.

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When Wisconsin scored a touchdown with eight seconds remaining to tie Ohio State, the Buckeyes simply scored in overtime, then stuffed the Badgers on their possession.

Plenty of good teams have been on probation in the past, and some, like USC just last year, have played well. But the last team ineligible for the postseason to go unbeaten, which Ohio State is still one win away from doing, was Auburn in 1993.

The wins haven’t all been pretty, and some - like a three-point victory over Indiana when Ohio State surrendered 49 points - have been alarming. But while Bama fell two weeks ago, the Buckeyes continued to win. And while the Ducks and Wildcats went down last week, the Buckeyes won.

They simply have won each and every time they’ve taken field, somehow, someway, as Meyer said.

And that’s where so much of the credit starts.

Meyer, who burned out after winning two national championships at Florida before taking a year away from coaching, came home to Ohio to lead the Buckeyes out of the abyss of scandal and mediocrity - they were just 6-7 last season under interim coach Luke Fickell.

He saw a team that lacked discipline, so he broke them down only to build them back up. And of course he inherited just the kind of quarterback that made him so successful first at Utah, where he led the Utes to an undefeated season in 2004 with Alex Smith at the helm, and Florida, where Tim Tebow guided his offense for three seasons and played plenty in reserve as a freshman.

Braxton Miller is the man who makes the Buckeyes go. A dual threat, he’s passed for 1,850 yards and 14 touchdowns while running for 1,214 yards and 13 TDs. And Miller is only a sophomore, so he’ll only get better, which has to be a scary thought for the rest of the Big Ten.

"It’s such a credit to this team to be in the position they’re in," Meyer said during his weekly press conference on Tuesday. "It’s hard (to go unbeaten). It’s real hard."

Ohio State has played this fall on the periphery. Ineligible for a bowl, the Buckeyes have quietly gone about their business as the spotlight shone on teams in Tuscaloosa, Manhattan, South Bend and Eugene.

It’s been a silently spectacular season.

What We Learned, Part I

It took a grand total of one week on the outside looking in, but but the SEC is back in play.

With three undefeated teams remaining - not including ineligible Ohio State - it seemed certain that the SEC’s six-year stranglehold on the national championship was set to end. Alabama was the last remaining unbeaten from the conference, but Texas A&M took care of the Tide two weeks ago.

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So for a week it not only looked like an SEC team would not win the national title, but the conference wouldn’t even have a team in the championship game.

Scratch that.

The stunning losses by Kansas State and Oregon on Saturday night means at least one one-loss team will be in Miami on the night of Jan. 7. And while Oregon, Kansas State, Florida and Florida State would all have their arguments - should they not lose again - a one-loss SEC champion is the obvious choice to play Notre Dame.

"We’re just focusing on today really," said Georgia coach Mark Richt, "and then we’ll focus on tomorrow. It’s one day at a time."

Similarly, Alabama coach Nick Saban said, "I just want the players to play their best game and have the right disposition about doing that, rather than being caught up in the circumstances of what’s at stake. That’s why this game (against Auburn) is the most important game of the year and we need to be focused on what we need to do to play well in this game."

In a sense, no matter how irritating it may be for the SEC to potentially still reign supreme, it’s actually a good thing that once again there will presumably be an SEC team playing for the national championship.

While Notre Dame seems like a pushover, and a game between either Alabama or Georgia against Oregon or Kansas State would likely be closer, there would have been something hollow about a team from another conference winning the national title without beating an SEC team to do it.

No one-loss SEC team deserved to leapfrog an unbeaten, and a championship game between K-State and Oregon, or one of those two against Notre Dame, would have been perfectly legitimate. But there would have been a gnawing sense that the SEC wasn’t dethroned.

Fluky things might happen over the next couple of weeks, should Notre Dame lose at USC on Saturday night.

Oregon could back into the Pac-12 title game if Stanford loses to UCLA and then play its way back into one of the top two spots in the BCS Standings. Florida State could suddenly become a player by beating Florida and winning the ACC title game. Kansas State could move up if Stanford doesn’t open the door for Oregon.

One thing, however, is certain.

The SEC is back in play.

What We Learned, Part II

Conference realignment is ongoing. But it’s become tired.

A few years ago when Nebraska - the mighty Cornhuskers, once a cornerstone of the Big 8 and the marquee team in the Big 12 North - was plucked by the Big Ten it was exciting, both disappointing and intriguing at once.

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By the time Syracuse and Pitt decided to bolt the putrid Big Least in favor of the ACC, few batted an eye.

But this week with first Maryland bolting the ACC, where it was a founding member and in many seasons a basketball powerhouse, and Rutgers leaving the Big Least - both for the Big Ten - the reaction is different. Enough already.

Yes, money drives the sport. It’s a business and schools will continue to chase the almighty dollar. Realignment may never end, conferences shuffling and re-shuffling.

But the bloom is off the rose.

Game of the Week

It’s now Notre Dame’s to lose.

Closing isn’t easy, as Oregon and Kansas State showed, so as certain it seems that the Fighting Irish will play the SEC champion for the national title, nothing is truly certain.

The last time the Fighting Irish were ranked No. 1 was 19 years ago. Ranked second, they had just won a massive showdown against Florida State, which had been No. 1, and all they had to do was beat Boston College the final week of the regular season. They didn’t. The Seminoles climbed back to No. 1 and went on to win their first national championship.

This time the opponent the final week of the regular season is USC. The Trojans, a favorite to win the national title before the start of the season, just lost their fourth game of the season, falling 38-28 to UCLA. In the process, senior quarterback Matt Barkley, a favorite to win the Heisman Trophy before the season, was injured and won’t play against Notre Dame.

Everything points to a win for the Fighting Irish. Then again, everything pointed to wins for the Ducks and Wildcats a week ago, when suddenly they had what they’d been chasing.

"We know the unexpected is always out there, so we try to stay focused on the next practice," Notre Dame coach Brian Kelly said on Monday. "If we did what (fans and media) did and did that big picture stuff, it would drive us crazy."

Meanwhile, USC coach Lane Kiffin, though he just got a vote of confidence from athletic director Pat Haden, could be coaching for his job. And if he’s truly safe this year, he’ll certainly enter next year on the hot seat if the Trojans get whipped by the Irish.

As for the matchups, USC does have a powerful offense that averages 36.1 points per game. But without Barkley, it’s suddenly a more pedestrian, a lot less challenging for the top-ranked scoring defense that allows only 10.1 points per game. The Trojans still have wideout Marqise Lee, but with Max Wittek - who stupidly and precociously predicted a USC win on Tuesday - at quarterback there’s no guarantee USC can even get him the ball.

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Notre Dame’s offense, meanwhile, is improving. True freshman quarterback Everett Golson was frequently benched early in the season, but that’s not happening anymore. And with USC’s defense first exposed by pedestrian Syracuse the second week of the season - and torched since by Utah, Oregon, Arizona and UCLA - the Irish should score more than enough.

Just like Oregon figured to score more than enough against Stanford. And Kansas State figured to score more than enough against Baylor.

Oh, wait. Um.

My Top 10

1. Notre Dame (11-0): Are they Mariano Rivera, or just another weak-kneed closer.